De-Cluttering the New Year

Cognicent | 30, Jan, 2024 | Newsletter

Happy New Year!

The holiday season for many is usually about travel, going to visit with family or friends, or getting some time away to relax and refresh. This year, I spent the holidays at home, mainly because of the new puppy that joined our family.

I feel pretty lucky to live on the street I do. There are only 30 houses in total, and it’s filled with kids whose ages match the ages of ours pretty well. You can go out on the street with a bat and ball, and before long, you’ve got a few fielders joining in for a game of street cricket.

The old set of steel wickets we use are pretty simple and effective for street cricket, given you just sit them on the road and you’re all set. However, these wickets had seen better days. The white coating had been falling away for a while, and rust had started to cover the wickets. So, in a moment of industriousness, I decided to fix them up and return them to their former glory.

This meant delving into the shed and finding the required things, which included a wire brush, some rust converter, a couple of fresh bolts and wingnuts and a can of spray paint. Now, I knew I had all these things, but finding them was a bit of a challenge. So, I set about de-cluttering and cleaning the shed; sorting the spanners, vice grips, screwdrivers and sockets into their correct order, sorting the different bolts, screws, washers and nails into containers, and actually labelling them, and of course getting rid of the various bits of junk that were completely useless, but had somehow called the shed home for many years.

The end result was probably a little below the standard set by my father-in-law, but it makes it so much easier to get in and get things done when I need to. A day of decluttering means a whole bunch of time saved in the future.

It got me thinking about the clutter that we can build within our organisations, not just the bits and pieces that build up in the physical environment, but also in terms of the campaigns, the communications and importantly the processes that can clutter the workplace without adding much value to what we do.

Cluttering our Days

If you’ve been in a business for a few years, there’s a good chance you’ve seen many different initiatives and processes come and go, each coming in with good intent, and hopefully adding some value, then there’s a change of leadership, or a shift in market conditions, and the business moves in a new direction. You’ve probably also seen plenty of examples of where some new thing is added, but nothing is removed to make space, it’s just added on, one more thing to get done.

It could be the accumulation of meetings added to an already busy schedule. It could be the addition of something extra in the pre-shift. It could be the build-up of notices and alerts on a communications board, to the point where it’s heavy enough to bring the wall down. It could be an increased burden of time put on those implementing the change or the extra training requirements added to the calendar. Whatever it is, just like my shed, you can one day realise that there’s a whole lot of clutter getting in the way of being able to do what you need to do.

Lean (and Efficient)

Many businesses have embraced the LEAN methodologies within their work areas, building the 5S routines into the daily work (sort, set in order, shine, standardise, sustain). The process, when implemented well, can improve the efficiency, safety and productivity of the team by reducing downtime. While we often apply this methodology to the physical workplace, it seems that we don’t do a great job of applying it to our systems, processes and communications.

The clutter of our systems stifles people’s ability to get on with the work that truly matters. The knock-on effects can include:

• Reduced efficiency and productivity
• Reduced engagement
• Increased stress, distraction and frustration
• Increased interpersonal conflict
• Reduced wellbeing
• Increase in time pressure
• Increase in safety incidents

As we start the new year, we encourage you to look around your business and see where the clutter exists, start with a look at de-cluttering your area before looking at the bigger picture.

• Take a look through your calendar and using a 1-5 scale, rate each activity on the value it adds for you and your team.
• Write out a list of the different processes that you and your team complete each day/week, again, give them a value rating
• Take a look at the communications going to your team, how much of this is helping them to do their jobs safely, well and productively, and how much is just noise?
• Finally, if you have the authority to reduce some of this clutter, go for it. If you don’t, have a chat with the person who does and see whether you can get some time back in your week to do the work that matters most.

We hope you have a safe, well and productive start to your 2024.

– The Cognicent Team